Rupam Talukdar's father is a paan shop keeper near the Pathsala bus stand in Barpeta

Rupam Talukdar of Pathsala in Barpeta district has brought laurels to Assam, being the only candidate from the State to clear the Indian Economic Service (IES) examination, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Rupam cracked the examination in his first attempt.

The results of the IES examination were declared by the UPSC on Tuesday.

Rupam Talukdar, who is from a family of poor financial background, is the son of Rohini Talukdar and Hemanti Talukdar from Pathsala.

Rupam Talukdar, who has maintained a brilliant career as a student, secured first class first position in Economics in his degree final examination from BH College in Barpeta in the year 2013.

Talukdar, who is currently pursuing PhD under Gauhati University, completed his masters degree from Gauhati University in 2015 securing first class third position.

Talukdar had to struggle a lot to pursue his studies during his student life.

According to information, the teachers also helped him with money and books as much as they could in any form.

Even after achieving a good result in 2013, his economic crisis did not end.

“As a financial support, an amount of Rs 10,000 was provided by the Assam College Teachers’ Association (ACTA) through the then Education Minister, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, during the Association’s Chaigaon conference in 2013,” then ACTA organising secretary, Dr Sultan Ali Ahmed, Assistant Professor at BH College, told ‘Northeast Now’.

Talking to exclusively to ‘Northeast Now’, Rupam Talukdar, while expressing his happiness at clearing the IES examination said, “Poverty should be taken as a challenge. Some people remain mentally backward and some others economically backward. One should not think himself or herself as destitute.”

Talking to ‘Northeast Now’, Rupam Talukdar’s parents informed that he also had to earn money by running a paan shop to pursue his college studies.

Northeast Now is a multi-app based hyper-regional bilingual news portal. Led by a group of professionals, the digital news platform covers every inch of the eight states of northeast India and the five neighbouring countries. It is the first of its kind new media initiative in the northeast, and is based in Guwahati. As the political dynamics in the northeast is intricate and fluid, Northeast Now is always politically neutral.